1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for processing a product. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for processing a product using a bottom-unloading product basket for placement in a processing vessel.
2. Description of Related Technology
Processing products in treatment vessels is known in the art for many applications and in many industries. For example, cooking a food product through exposure to culinary steam, at either elevated pressure or at ambient atmospheric pressure, has been known for many years. Prior art steam-cooking processes often include a method for using the steam as a transfer medium for infusing the food product with spices and flavorings. Moreover, various methods exist for mechanically mixing a cooked food product to attain uniform texture, consistency and taste.
For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,878 discloses an apparatus and method of producing a food product. The food product is placed inside an air-tight chamber, in which the food product is to be cooked, wherein steam is generated from a source of water and is introduced into the cooking chamber. The steam heats the inside of the cooking chamber and serves as a heat transfer medium to heat the food product as well as a color and flavor transfer medium to color and flavor the food product. Flavoring and coloring additive, such as liquid smoke, may be added to the water utilized in generating the steam in order to flavor the food product being cooked. The steam then transfers the flavoring and coloring additive to the food product which condenses on the food product adding flavor and color to the food product.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,524 discloses a food processor with a mixing vessel and a drive mechanism for an agitator in the mixing vessel, the lower region of which can be heated. A top unit for the mixing vessel has a perforated base to allow food to be steam-cooked. The perforations are formed in a support plate in the base of the top unit and condensation and moisture are led back into the mixing vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,161 discloses a food steamer having a base, a combined support and collector, and a cooking bowl. The base has a heater and a reservoir for holding water to be heated into steam. The cooking bowl is mounted on top of the base and has a bottom with holes. The combined support and collector has a frame and a screen. The frame is mounted to the base between the heater and the cooking bowl. The frame has a center aperture with the screen located therein for supporting flavoring items thereon. The frame has raised walls to form a condensed steam holding area for holding all condensed steam that has traveled into and then back out of the holes in the cooking bowl. The frame also has a side wall with inwardly recessed grooves and holes through the frame at the tops of the grooves. These form pressure release vents at the sides of the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,235 discloses a food steamer having a base, a combined support and collector, and a cooking bowl. The base has a heater and a reservoir for holding water to be heated into steam. The cooking bowl is mounted on top of the base and has a bottom with holes. The combined support and collector has a frame and a screen. The frame is mounted to the base between the heater and the cooking bowl. The frame has a center aperture with the screen located therein for supporting flavoring items thereon. The frame has raised walls to form a condensed steam holding area for holding all condensed steam that has traveled into and then back out of the holes in the cooking bowl.
Ordinarily, steam-cooking involves placing a food product within or on a bowl-shaped apparatus having a plurality of small holes throughout the bottom surface and sides, and either positioning the apparatus above a quantity of potable water that is heated into steam or placing the apparatus within a covered vessel into which culinary steam is introduced. Typically, the bottom surface of the bowl-shaped apparatus holding or containing the food product to be steam-cooked is integrally fastened to the sides thereof, and has a plurality of small holes that allow steam, but not food product, to pass through. Removal of the food product from the bowl-shaped apparatus after completion of the steam-cooking process usually involves the tilting or inversion of the apparatus to release the food product. In addition, steam-cooking of a food product often is performed in a closed vessel under elevated atmospheric pressure.
Moreover, certain food products may be subjected to further processing subsequent to steam-cooking. For example, it may be desirable for a food product that has been steam-cooked at elevated atmospheric pressure then to be mechanically mixed at a non-elevated pressure, either to add spices or flavorings or to attain a uniform or otherwise more desirable taste, texture or consistency. To subject the steamed food product to a mechanical mixing process, the food product usually is transferred from the cooking vessel in which the steam-cooking was performed into a second cooking vessel in which mechanical mixing will be performed. Such transfer commonly is accomplished through the use of vessel-to-vessel pipes and pipe pumping equipment or through the hoisting and removal of the food product from the first vessel and placement into the second vessel. Furthermore, the second vessel may be equipped with integrally-attached agitators, blades or scrapers to mix or blend the steam-cooked food product. The need for multiple vessels for such multi-step processing is particularly evident where the first cooking vessel is designed and equipped to steam-cook food products at elevated pressure in a closed environment and the subsequent mechanical food product mixing step also needs to be accomplished in a covered vessel but at ambient atmospheric pressure.
In commercial-scale food processing operations, it is common for food products to be steam-cooked in very large batches by placing the food products into a large, bowl-shaped, perforated apparatus that is, in turn, placed into a closable cooking vessel having a capacity of 50 gallons or more. Such large quantities of food product can weigh hundreds of pounds or more, and thus typically necessitate the use of sophisticated hoisting and tilting equipment, not only to remove the bowl-shaped apparatus from the cooking vessel after completion of the steam-cooking step, but also to remove the cooked food product from the bowl-shaped apparatus itself, and then to place the cooked food product into a second vessel for mechanical mixing, blending or other further processing.
In addition, selected flavors are often added to food products during steam-cooking processes, typically either by placing the whole, non-extract, non-concentrate form of spices (e.g., whole bay leaves, whole vanilla beans, whole peppercorns) directly into a covered vessel in which steam-cooking occurs or into a closed, perforated container that is placed within the vessel, thereby facilitating steam-infusion of the spices into the food product. Alternatively, flavoring of food products during steam-cooking processes is frequently accomplished through the addition of an extract, concentrate form of spices directly into the food product, thereby enabling the spices to be fully absorbed into the food product.
As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, there are numerous other industries and fields wherein a product is processed in one or more treatment vessels. For example, it is common in the commercial waste management industry for waste materials to be treated to reduce the toxicity or mobility of chemical compounds in such materials by subjecting the materials to thermal energy within a closed vessel and subsequently subjecting the materials to further treatment, such as mechanical mixing or agitation, in the same or a second vessel. Similarly, concrete production or mining-related activities may involve the use of multiple vessels to accomplish heating and subsequent mixing or sorting of naturally-occurring materials such as sand or rocks.